Traffic accidents in Japan have increased rapidly since the 1950s with the growth in road transport. Fatalities surpassed 10,000 for the first time in 1959 and reached 16,765 in 1970. This has become a major social problem often typified by the expression "road warfare". The Traffic Safety Policies Law was enacted in 1970 in response to the situation and a comprehensive range of traffic accident prevention measures was implemented. These included greater presence on the roads with more traffic police officers, the introduction of an infringement system, improvements in the road and traffic environment and greater traffic safety activities at all levels in the community. As a result, the number of traffic accidents fell sharply and fatalities due to traffic accidents stood at 8,466 in 1979, almost half that of the peak in 1970. However, traffic accident fatalities reverted into an upward trend after bottoming out in the latter half of the 1970s and exceeded 10,000 for eight consecutive years. Although the number of fatalities came under 10,000 in 1997 for the second consecutive year, at the present time, the number of traffic accidents resulting in injury or death and the number of injuries still maintain the same high level. The breakdown for traffic accidents in 1997 is as follows: • Killed 9,640 (302 or 3.0% less than 1996) • Injured 958,925 (16,722 or 1.8% more than 1996) • Accidents 780,399 (9,315 or 1.2% more than 1996) Fatalities fell below 10,000 for the second consecutive year. However, the situation continued to deteriorate with injuries rising for the eighth consecutive year and the number of accidents reaching an all-time high for the fifth year in a row. Fatal traffic accidents in 1997 were marked by the following points: • Pedestrian fatalities fell markedly. • There was a major decline in the number of fatalities among those not wearing seatbelts. • Fatalities amongst the young in the 16-24 age group fell for seventh consecutive year. • Fatalities amongst senior citizens in the 65-74 age group decreased while those amongst senior citizens 75 years of age and over increased. Statistics have always been kept on fatalities which occur within 24 hours of an accident and, since 1993, fatalities which occur within 30 days of an accident have also been added to the statistics. In 1997, this figure was 11,254. The ratio of fatalities within 30 days to fatalities within 24 hours was 1.21 times in 1993, 1.20 times in 1994, 1.19 times in 1995 and 1.17 times in 1996 and 1997. (Author/publisher)
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